After heavy overnight rain at Jerez this morning’s warm-up was held in damp conditions with Dani Pedrosa setting the fastest time. The Spaniard was also the pacesetter in both wet practice sessions.

Front row starter Nicky Hayden showed once again just how competitive the Ducati could be if the race is run in wet conditions. The American was 0.5s adrift of Pedrosa but once again he looked exceptionally comfortable in the damp conditions.

Andrea Dovizioso was again out-qualified by his Tech 3 teammate, Cal Crutchlow, but with the Italian continuing to adapt to the Yamaha his third fastest time was impressive. Lining up seventh on the grid Dovizioso will have his work cut out for himself to match that position in the race but with rain forecast to fall he may surprise this afternoon.

Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were both over one second off the pace. Warm up is a time to make sure that your systems are working and that the bike has not developed any problems and it was clear that Lorenzo was not willing to push in the conditions and having won last year in similar weather he will be very confident of a third consecutive home Grand Prix victory.

For Rossi it was encouraging that he strung together a series of consistent laptimes with the majority of his laps within four tenths of a second of one another.

Aleix Espargaro was the fastest CRT bike with the Aspar rider scrapping into the top ten.

Casey Stoner ventured onto the track briefly but only completed an out lap before returning to the pits so as to save tyres.

In Moto2 Johann Zarco ended the session fastest. He topped all three wet weather practice session and even though he will line up tenth on the grid he looks very well placed to challenge this weekend.

Randy Krummenacher was the only rider within one second of Zarco with Xavier Simeon and Anthony West next fastest. Bradley Smith always excels in the wet and the Englishman was fifth fastest just ahead of Marc Marquez.

In the Moto3 session Migeul Oliveira’s strong form was once again apparent with the Portuguese rider fastest ahead of a promising performance from Niccolo Antonelli. The Italian rookie looked very comfortable aboard his Gresini and with a first career points finish could be a possibility for him today.

Jack Miller looked availed of the mixed conditions yesterday to qualify on the second row but the Australian showed that he has the potential to challenge for a decent haul of points today by setting the third fastest time ahead of Jakub Kornfeil and Maverick Vinales.

Pole sitter Alex Rins set the tenth fastest time with his teammate, Grand Prix debutant Alex Marquez, half a second faster in eighth. Sandro Cortese was 14th fastest with the German clearly keeping his powder dry ahead of the Moto3 race which is due to start in half an hour.